Talented cast shines despite otherwise lackluster script
By KEN KLINGENMEIER
A Seat on the Aisle
Epilogue Players opened their 2022-23 season with Things My Mother Taught Me, a comedy written by Katherine DiSavino and directed by Brent Wooldridge.
It tells the story of Olivia and Gabe, a couple who after years of dating decide to move in together, albeit after driving halfway across the country from NYC to Chicago to do so. The plot turns wacky when Gabe’s parents show up without notice and proceed to “help” them move in. As if that isn’t zany enough, Olivia’s parents show up as well, having been given advance word that Gabe aims to propose to their daughter. When the couple’s van full of possessions winds up stolen, even more mayhem ensues, and the ride gets bumpier and bumpier.
Under director Wooldridge’s deft hand, the skilled cast provides an array of wonderful characterizations for the proceedings. Erynne Sutton and Ethan Romba take the lead roles of Olivia and Gabe. Ms. Sutton’s well-grounded and likeable Olivia deftly handles most of the turmoil, only losing her balance a bit when confronted about her life choices by her mother and when her property goes missing. Romba gives Gabe a much higher-strung personality – what I’d call a “very very” style of portrayal – very very happy, very very uncomfortable, very very distraught. This is a character who sits in the empty bathtub when overwhelmed, and Romba shows him at a correct level.
Erynne Sutton as Olivia and Ethan Romba as Gabe in Epilogue Players’ Things My Mother Taught Me. (Photo provided by Epilogue Players)
Serita Borgeas and Tom Meador play his imposing parents, Lydia and Wyatt – whose “helping” includes a thorough top to bottom cleaning of the apartment – from the top of the fridge to the requirement for a new toilet seat. Ms. Borgeas’ buttinski mom is well-meaning, and the actress keeps a smile on her face as she exasperates the young couple. Meador’s Dad is properly drawn with a nice combination of dad-bravado and the knowledge of when to let his wife do as she wishes.
As Olivia’s mom and dad Karen and Carter, Karen K. Temple and R.C. Thorne provide still another set of parents bent of seeing their child go off into the world of relationships with all the well-meant advice they can muster. Ms. Temple’s Karen is sweet and knowing – driving her daughter crazy with a long history of instructive talks. R.C. Thorpe’s Carter loves his cell phone and though he is played as the somewhat goofier of the two dads, he comes through with very sound advice in a wonderful fatherly-talk scene with Wyatt and Gabe near the end of the play.
The smaller role of the building super, Max, is sharply done by Stephen E. Foxworthy in his return to the boards after a four-year absence. The perfect accent and winning personality delivered by Foxworthy was a definite high point in the show.
As good as all the roles are offered, I’m afraid I can’t say I was very taken by the script itself. I realize that playwright DiSavino (also known for Nana’s Naughty Knickers and Nana Does Vegas) did not intend to write a sophisticated comedy in the genre of Neil Simon. Her work seems to be an attempt at quick comic stops in an unlikely plot that can draw a laugh and please a community theatre audience – and I daresay she accomplishes that to some degree. But this play left me wanting.
In DiSavino’s piece, many comedic ideas are repeated and three-peated, seemingly as filler in a play that is rather short anyway. The “cleaning the top of the refrigerator” line must occur eight times in the script – twice to establish the extreme tidiness of Gabe’s mom, and six times to extend the idea for whatever reason. It’s just not that funny and there were other ideas given much the same treatment. And the action goes on and on in like manner.
The opening dilemma of a chair stuck in the apartment door seemed to be a metaphor of types – foreshadowing a play that gets stuck even as it meanders through the wacky turmoils of the story arc.
Bottom line: Loved the performances – survived the script.
Things My Mother Taught Me continues at Epilogue Players through Friday, Sept. 25. For more information about dates, times and reservations go to epilogueplayers.com or call (317) 926-3139.